Currently, charging columns or charging stations are usually used exclusively for the recharging of electric vehicles. The recharging of these types of electric vehicles takes a certain amount of time, during which the electric vehicle being recharged cannot be driven. During the charging process, electric vehicles are frequently subjected to diverse environmental influences, including among others, a particular ambient temperature. Usually, a battery being recharged heats up during the charging process, wherein other electrical or electronic components of the electric vehicle may also heat up. Frequently, vehicle systems such as batteries and miscellaneous electronic systems in the passenger compartment are placed in a thermally non-optimal state, in particular, during a charging process of an electric vehicle at a charging column.
Particularly rapid charging and discharging times in high-performance electric vehicles can usually also be realized only by a sophisticated heat management of batteries and power electronics belonging to them, and battery cells are cooled, in particular.
Furthermore, electric vehicles also have a strong temperature dependence. At low temperatures, for example, the driving range of an electric vehicle decreases, whereas higher temperatures particularly accelerate the aging of batteries, and at higher temperatures, damage of battery cells may also occur.
Therefore, basically, a relatively homogeneous and favorable temperature distribution in battery packs or batteries of electric vehicles would be desirable.
In order to achieve a heat management that is as ideal as possible during a charging process of an electric vehicle, often a portion of the electrical charging current available must be utilized for temperature control of the affected batteries, so that this portion of the charging current can no longer be used for the actual recharging of the battery. In other words, a portion of the connected power of the charging column affected is consumed therefor.
Of course, the respective connected power that energy suppliers can provide by way of the power grid is usually limited. Thus, if the connected power that is available is used for the temperature control of a battery of an electrical vehicle, the charging power will be automatically limited thereby.
It is basically well known to discharge excess heat during charging processes of electric vehicles. Thus, for example, DE 10 2016 004 851 A1, JP 2013134033 A, DE 10 2012 220 218 A1 and DE 11 2012 003 099 T5 show respective solutions for discharging heat from a battery of an electric vehicle during a charging process.
Moreover, DE 10 2011 003 436 A1 shows a container for accommodating a charging station that can be sunk in the ground for recharging an electric vehicle. In this case, a side wall of the container can serve as wall or floor heating for a room of a building in which adjacent containers can be disposed.